RustyBattleship

As the Configuration Manager of all structural and armor modifications for the class, I inspected all four of the ships and rode sea trials on two of them.

The main propulsion plants are in excellent shape and in mothball status have been preserved very well. When we reactivated Missouri back in the 80's, we opened up the reduction gear casings to inspect the gears themselves. Reps from the company that made them were on board for the inspection and reported that the gear boxes looked brand new.

We had a major problem with Wisconsin after first being reactivated by a private shipyard where she came back from sea trial with only one propeller working. A few weeks in a Navy Yard in Norfolk solved that problem. Also, Wisky's rudders were on the loose side. To my knowledge she was the only one of the four Iowas to practice "Close the Barn Door" stops. That would be to turn the rudders over to local control (aft rudder control room) and turn them in toward each other as the main screws are reversed. A normal "crash back" stop (only reversing the screws) from full ahead (200 rpm at 30+ knots) takes a little over a mile to bring an Iowa to a stop. A "Barn Door" stop only takes about 600 feet or about 2/3 the length of the ship. Anything not tied down winds up on the deck. But it puts a hell of a load on the rudder shafts.

So when I had to go back to Norfolk to do an inspection of Wisky I had to carry a bundle of rudder drawings with me as well so Norfolk could figure out a way to tighten them up (which they did).

The only other problem we had was because of an incident in San Diego on an Aircraft Carrier where some idiot deliberately dropped a large bolt into the reduction gear to prevent deployment. Therefore, on the BBs, we had to mount padlocked access covers over any other cover that could get into a moving part of the steam turbines and reduction gears. As Murphy's Law would have it, the tack weld of a nut broke loose and fell into the main bull gear on Missouri as she was heading for the middle east to join Wisconsin in Desert Storm. The two commanders that were the MPA's opened up the casing and found that one tooth on the main bull gear was broken. They welded that tooth back in and hand filed it for a perfect fit. One of those commanders, Isaah Jones, later rose to rank of Captain and was the last commanding officer of the Long Beach Naval Station. He then transferred to San Diego in charge of all overhauls of the Amphibs.

"Jonesy", as we called him even after earning his eagle, was on the pre-commissioning crew of both New Jersey and Missouri. Prior to that he had worked as a ship superintendent at LBNSY. So we knew each other personally and even after I retired in 1994 we still would get together at the Officer's club once in a while for a drink.

Once a prejudice person off to one side mentioned something about how it was possible for a "black man" to attain the rank of Captain. I corrected him by saying Jonesy and I were the same color, "Battleship Grey".